Did Forrest Gump and his son both have AIDS??

I think she was in love with Forrest but has the realization that he would never be able to fill the gap in his life because he is unable to understand certain things. He thinks like a child, so cannot fulfill that desire for adult intimacy (should go without daying I'm not talking about sex). I think she is misguuded, but I think she genuinely thinks she is doing the right thing every time she leaves him.

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Yup, could be. He quoted the whole thing so clarification would be good. Certainly disagree with the sentiment initially expressed, either way. Always found it odd that people are so willing to lay into movie characters: obviously, they're not real, but then, being so disgusted with them is premised on the idea of pretending they are, so it always strikes me as weirdly inconsistent.

please,all of you judging her-how many of you would date a mentally challenged person?
not even sure its morally correct

only prob i have with her is her going to bed with him in first place which i think was just a misguided way of her trying to help him along. other than that she was allowed to date whoever she wanted to-not a fan of certain terms being thrown around in this thread.

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Kinda confused by the pairing of these two statements, given that this is just an additional reason to disapprove of what she did.

Whether or not something is "allowed" is a different question than whether or not it's reckless or dangerous.

nothing to be confused about,shes being slated for not getting together with him simply because he was in love with her and i dont agree with the ending,but its a feel good movie so..

actually,it is about whats socially allowed when people are using terms as sluts and whore.

The confusing part is that you start off by saying "don't judge her," but then just give people a different reason why they should. You're saying "don't judge her for that...judge her for this other, possibly worse thing."

Well, she had unprotected sex with a bunch of people, and it literally killed her. She was careless about life-altering choices that endangered her, and may have endangered others. You might dislike a particular term, but there's nothing wrong about disapproving of reckless behavior.

I had already said that i didnt like the choice of her going to bed with him in the first place,
then i commented to those who didnt like her simply because she wasnt dating him.

worst excuse for that kind of language-you forgot to add of a woman at the end. Also aids wasnt a known decease at the time so it wouldnt be anything anyone had in mind.
anyway im not going to discuss it any further.

Yeah, I'm not saying I disagree with either statement. I'm saying it's odd to tell people not to judge her, then immediately give them another reason to judge her.

I didn't forget anything: it's reckless for both. And I've heard the word used to describe men plenty of times, besides.

You're suggesting that unprotected sex with lots of people you don't know isn't inherently reckless, HIV aside?

Okay then. I'll talk about it a bit more on my own, then:

It's hard to fathom that there's any genuine disagreement with the idea that having loads of unprotected sex with strangers is a bad idea, so I'm left to conclude that responses like this are just a cultural reflex about any negative sexual statement, even the ones that are clearly warranted.

{Spoiler Alert} -- Folks who don't remember (or know of) the historical time period covered in *Forrest Gump*: in order to view this movie and judge its characters fairly I suggest it helps to consider that the 1960s and 1970s were a highly idealistic, rebellious and experimental time for young adults of the period. Jenny joins the counter-culture who were challenging the war and the status quo; part of that culture was, as a contemporary song said, "love the one you're with." So you can make sense of Jenny's promiscuity culturally. Jenny's singing of a protest folk song in the nude is a pretty clear indication of the conflicts in values represented: idealism and love vs sexism and violation.

Also it seems pretty clear that she was a child victim of incest. She desperately wanted to get away from her alcoholic, apparently abusive father. It is well known now that victims of incest often struggle with reckless and self-destructive impulses like drug use and dangerous promiscuity because their sense of self-worth has been damaged. The times she is tempted to jump from up high reinforces her desperate unhappiness. So this context too is important to understanding the messages of the film. Jenny couldn't stay with Forrest until she had come to peace with the demons of her past.

When it comes to AIDS/HIV, yes, now it is possible to survive with it. However, for its earliest victims it was pretty much a complete death sentence. I watched a very smart, nice person that I worked with in the early 1980s get sick with it and suddenly die within a very few short months. It was terrifying, mysterious, and completely incurable. Again, historical context for watching this is really important to understanding and appreciating all of the references.

Jenny slept with Forrest five years or so before she contacted Forrest again. I think the tombstone said she died in 1982. That would mean that Forrest Jr. would have been conceived in the 1970s, before the AIDS epidemic had become full-blown and acknowledged. Both the child and Forrest Sr. seem healthy at the end, so it is unlikely that Jenny infected Forrest Sr when Forrest Jr was conceived. What I think we are meant to believe is that Jenny gave birth to Forrest Jr and then went back to her drug habit and contracted HIV/AIDS. She cleaned up her act and got a job but then got sick from HIV/AIDS. So she contacted Forrest Sr., made her amends with him and ensured Forrest Jr's future. When she and Forrest get married notice that the only bed scene is the one where he brings her a meal in bed and sits next to her. They don't kiss at their wedding. Therefore I think it's clear that their relationship was completely platonic except for the one night when little Forrest Jr. was conceived. [Note: I see it suggested elsewhere that she had Hepatitis C; awareness of that disease also developed in the 1980s, so this suggested timeline is still relevant.]

I just re-watched *Forrest Gump* and thought how there must be fewer and fewer of us who get all of those references. We truly are all like feathers in the wind!! A highly symbolic movie. Reminds me of *Being There* in a way but I didn't like that movie nearly as well as I like Forrest Gump. Even though the characters not all that well-developed, the performances are stellar.

For all your $h!t talking on everyone else and everything else your all a bunch of dumb fu€ks......she died of Hep C.....idiots!!! Lol

aids is contagious and hereditary.


jenny is a victim all her life and disinformed as well.


forrest truly loved jenny and jenny married forrest as a way to get a taste of respectability as well to give her only child a true sense of family togetherness
she died in peace and to hell with all those worthless males.

After all these years how can someone think that the virus is 100% transmittable is beyond me. No it doesn't necessarily follow that with sex or birth it is not certain that the virus will be passed on. Look it up!

How this turd gets bumped every 6 months, Ive no idea

Just about everytime i check Who's Online a guest is reading this thread. Insane.

Pretty much the only thing guaranteed to get rep from me are pictures of Shaq. Best person.

It shows at the end when he is at her grave she died in 1982 so therefore in the 80s we still knew nothing about HIV

What is this post even? XD

It serves as a reminder of when we had negative rep. You notice it has -20.

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I think it would be WAY more depressing if Forrest Gump wasn't the father of Jenny's child. I can't really put my finger on it, but after everything that occurs, that's... just sad.